Keyword Research Archives | blog

Improving your SEO (search engine optimization) will help you get found
online more easily. Getting found will lead to clicks and more clicks leads to
customer leads. You’ve probably heard that implementing keywords into the
content on your website, blog, and URL are key strategies for improving your
SEO ranking. However, including the wrong keywords or too many keywords can be
just as detrimental.

Although you may not always notice them, keywords play an integral role when
it comes to helping a small business get found online. So let’s get to it by
breaking down the long and short (tail) of it.

Do
Your Own Keyword Research

Keyword research should never be a
one-time commitment, but rather an ever-changing process that involves a
strategy and a comprehensive understanding of your business and your industry.
Including keywords that are specific to your business and industry will help to
ensure that the right customers are being driven to your door rather than just
any customer. Although we want to increase our customer base, we don’t want to
target consumers that may not find the value in our business.

Using
the Right Keywords

Short-tail keywords, or keywords
composed of very generic keywords, might seem appealing because they’re
searched more often than long-tail keywords, however, they’re also a lot more
competitive. So, unless you’re writing content for a large organization, like
Apple or Macy’s, and consumers are likely searching specifically for your
product, you don’t want to enter into a sea of competitors with big brands that
have even bigger pockets.

Long-tail keywords, on the other
hand, may not be as frequently typed into a search engine—think, “Egg” vs.
“Poached Egg with Avocado and Bechemel”. By including more long-tail keywords
into the content on your page, you’ll attract a larger number of customers who
are likely to search for any combination of those long-tail keywords.

Location-based keywords are keywords
that directly relate to your business’s physical location. For example, if your
business is a bakery in a popular neighborhood in Charlotte, NC, you’ll want to
include not only Charlotte, but also the name of that specific neighborhood. By
doing so, you’re more likely to target visitors in your area rather than across
town who may or may not ever make it to your location.

Avoid
Keyword Stuffing

Speaking of misleading customers
that may not find value in your business, adding practically any keyword under
the sun is referred to as keyword stuffing and is largely considered a taboo in
the digital marketing world. Like with any other digital marketing rule of
thumb, less is more and quality will always conquer quantity. Ideally, a
website’s content should include keywords in a natural way. However, by
inputting keywords into a few sentences and repeating them over and over,
you’re stuffing your content with keywords. Even if they’re good keywords, it’s
still too much. Now that you’ve read through these tips, you’re ready to become
an SEO expert too!